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Post by Wayne Land on Jun 9, 2017 15:10:50 GMT -5
If you haven't read this book, get your hands on the new hardcover version as soon as possible and prepare to be amazed. If you've already read the paper cover version, and enjoyed it, the new hardcover issue is worth an additional purchase. Many thanks to Dan for sending me a complimentary copy which I've just finished. To put it simple, I must say if I ever had any doubts about Brushy's true identity being that of Billy The Kid, Dan has dispelled those doubts with this book. New photos, new discoveries, and a genuine "page turner". Thanks Dan.
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Post by montanas on Jun 10, 2017 19:32:31 GMT -5
Just reread it. And yes, I'm more convinced now than after the first time I read it. What's the difference between the HB and PB? Only have the PB
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Post by Wayne Land on Jun 10, 2017 21:05:43 GMT -5
There's an additional photo of the rough rider believed to be Brushy and evidence of an additional alias used by Brushy. Various added text here and there. I didn't go through and compare page by page and had obviously not memorized the book but it seems there was lots of new stuff.
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Post by MissyS on Jun 11, 2017 1:43:52 GMT -5
Wayne, Thank You, Im buying a hard cover copy very soon , I purchased this book to read on the Kindle a couple yrs ago, and I really did enjoy reading it, there was alot of time and research that went into it, and I would love to own the actual hard back its very informative, and Im looking forward to seeing the new bits of info added.
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Post by Texas Truth Teller on Jul 1, 2017 18:41:32 GMT -5
So excited to get my copy of “Autobiography of Billy the Kid”!! A good read, well written and entertaining. It proves that Brushy Bill was Brushy Bill. An autobiography, by definition, is the self-written account of the life of a person. Brushy Bill was still alive in 2014 when he published his book under the alias of Daniel Edwards. His reported death in 1950 was a HOAX!! Photos of Brushy Bill in a coffin, published in “The Return of the Outlaw Billy the Kid”, are FAKE. Obituaries of Brushy Bill’s death published in newspapers in 1950 are FAKE NEWS!! Brushy Bill admitted he had many aliases, and Daniel Edwards might have been his last one. Brushy Bill verified the accuracy of Morrison’s research by repeating the same information found in “|Alias Billy the Kid”.
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Post by Wayne Land on Jul 1, 2017 21:19:17 GMT -5
Sarcasm is such a waste of time don't you think. Perhaps you could share some "objective" opinions about some of the new information found in Dan's book. Or you could just pretend there isn't anything new and continue to exercise your lack of objectivity.
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Post by Texas Truth Teller on Jul 6, 2017 16:30:05 GMT -5
“Billy the Kid, An Autobiography” An objective review of new and old information.
FRONT COVER: “An Autobiography”. Misleading. The author was not Billy the Kid. “The Kid’s Identity Revealed”. An assumption not supported by facts.
PREFACE: “In 1948 when the brother of Jesse Evans passed away and his estate needed to be settled, Jesse Evans reappeared and revealed he had been living in Florida under the alias of Joe Hines.” An assumption not supported by references, sources, or facts. No copies of relevant North Dakota probate records, or Morrison’s case file records, were provided to support the assertion that Joe Hines was Jesse Evans. “He had many aliases over the years, but his Christian name was William H. Roberts, and he had the family Bible to prove it.” Or did he? W. C. Jameson reported that a Roberts’ family Bible was found in 1989 in the possession of William Allison of Temple, Texas, a grandson of Melinda Allison Roberts. Had the family Bible belonged to Melinda Allison or Brushy Bill? Who entered the information in the Bible? When was the information recorded in the Bible? If it was a Roberts’ family Bible, how did Brushy Bill, after he left his father’s house in Carlton, Texas, in May, 1874, retain possession of the Bible as he traveled to three foreign countries, ten states, fought two wars, endured two imprisonments, escaped from two prisons, and lived with the Indians? If it was a Roberts’ family Bible, why did Brushy Bill not identify his paternal grandmother when he described his ancestry to Morrison? “With Morrison’s help, he was even able to procure signed affidavits from surviving witnesses who personally knew Billy the Kid that supported his claim.” An exaggeration. DeWitt Travis, Robert E. Lee, and Martile Able all signed affidavits that they believed Brushy Bill was Billy the Kid. None of them had met Billy the Kid before his reported death in 1881. DeWitt Travis, born about 1890 about 9 years after the reported death of Billy the Kid, knew Brushy Bill, but never saw Billy the Kid. Robert E. Lee knew Brushy Bill, but not Billy the Kid. Robert E Lee, in his affidavit, said he first met Billy the Kid in 1889, 8 years after his reported death.. Martile Able (Martelia Bilberry Abel) met Brushy Bill, but never knew Billy the Kid. She was born about 1872 in Cooke County, Texas, and lived in Lampasas County, Texas, in 1880. Lee, Travis, and Able may have believed Brushy Bill’s claim that he was Billy the Kid.
CHAPTER 8 ”Unfortunately, there are not any individual photos attributed to be of William S. Murphy, but in Theodore Roosevelt’s 1899 book: “The Rough Riders” there is as group photo of “Five Bronc Busters” and one of these men, the man 4th from the left, looks surprisingly like Billy.”
The author went to great lengths to explain why William S. Murphy might be an alias of Billy the Kid, patching together random bits of information to support Brushy Bill’s claim that he had joined the Rough Riders. William S. Murphy was mustered out of the Rough Riders as William S. Murphy, Caddo, I. T. William S. Murphy and his wife Emma lived in Bryan County in the 1920 census. He was a lawyer (1920 OK census, Bryan Co, microfilm page 35, line 01). William S. Murphy, was born 26 January 1866 in Mississippi. He died 10 February 1928 in Bennington, Bryan County, Oklahoma. He and his wife, Emma, are buried in Bennington Cemetery (FAG #107537122). William had been a soldier, and applied for a pension 23 Oct 1926 (Ancestry.com, Pensions). He had served in Co. M, 1st Volunteer Cav. Emma applied for a pension 6 April 1928 soon after his death.
William S. Murphy was not Brushy Bill.
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Post by Wayne Land on Jul 6, 2017 17:44:06 GMT -5
Well congratulations TTT. You gave us something new with that last paragraph. And you may be right that William S. Murphy was not Brushy Bill, but that still doesn't mean Brushy Bill wasn't Billy The Kid. Even if Brushy made up the whole thing about being in the Rough Riders, it is still possible he really was Billy The Kid. Dan's book is excellent and he provides some theories that had not been put forward before. As such, the book is a great read. Maybe he can do some additional research about William S. Murphy, etc. When I get some time I'll go over the records you present and I thank you for the effort.
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Post by 44colt on Jul 6, 2017 20:23:21 GMT -5
The book is an autobiography because much of it consists of the words of Brushy Bill Roberts as transcribed by Morrison. Since it would be odd to list Billy the Kid as the author...or odd to list Morrison or Sonnichsen as the author since there is new material...the author is Daniel A. Edwards. This is hardly "misleading" as this is well described in the description. It really doesn't make a difference one way or the other, however. Regarding affidavits, it is a fact of history that Severo Gallegos knew Billy the Kid and also a fact of history that he swore his oath that Brushy was Billy the Kid. One may call Severo a liar....and one can also believe the ridiculously inconsistent story that Garrett attempted to sell back in 1881 to save himself after he accidentally shot a third innocent person from ambush in his attempt to get the Kid...but some of us have been lied to long enough and just want the truth. For the record, let's be clear that there are far more historical gymnastics on Garrett's side than in Brushy's story. Just because the lie has been repeated loudly and often doesn't make it true. By the way, you should be pleased to know that the truth is winning and more and more people are coming over to Brushy's side every day...and it will not stop. The Santa Fe Ring was very real and very corrupt and there is no moral high ground in taking the position they paid to create. They attempted to brand Frank W. Angel an outlaw in much the same way they did Billy the Kid, only Angel was a special investigator for the Secretary of the Interior and had backup, whereas the Kid did not. This is not 1880 or even 1950 and millennials today don't have the baggage we do with this story. To them, its obvious what happened because they are not biased. You can clearly look at the photos and see its the same person. There isn't even a question about it. In time, the historical record will be corrected. Its just a matter of time. Regarding the Spanish-American War, it is true that in the book there is conjecture regarding the possibility that William S. Murphy was the alias used by Brushy Bill Roberts because his service record seems to match Brushy's narrative of his service and because the name is similar to the singular 20 year old non-hispanic white male in San Patricio in 1880, Joseph S. Murphy....but this is not really a critical point. The critical point are the photographs of the bronco buster with the gambler's ring that is an exact match of Brushy Bill Roberts. In the photo he is also standing next to an Cherokee Indian, just as Brushy claimed. Further, your pension record is for the Civil War, not for the Spanish-American War. It just so happens I've found a pension record for Daniel A. Edwards in that same index. Perhaps the author knew William S. Murphy personally during the Civil War and that's where the information came from? Or, perhaps there is more than one William S. Murphy...or perhaps Brushy, having worked for the hanging judge in Indian Territory, knew the real William S. Murphy and used his name when he enlisted in the Rough Riders....just like he did with his cousin Ollie P.... Regardless, the good news is that despite the best efforts of a corrupt system, Billy died a free man long after most of them were dead and gone. Take that, Santa Fe Ring. Save
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Post by Texas Truth Teller on Jul 6, 2017 22:56:06 GMT -5
Daniel, Please don’t dismiss my conclusion until you review these documented facts. Please note the following: The complete title of the Ancestry.com pension file is Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1936. William S. Murphy’s age was reported as 53 in the 1920 census of Bryan County, Oklahoma, and the age of his wife, Emma, was reported as 51. William S. Murphy filed for a pension 23 Oct 1926. Emma Murphy filed for a widow’s pension 6 April 1928. The cemetery marker for William S. Murphy shows his date of birth to be 26 January 1866. The Civil War began 12 April 1861 and ended 9 May 1865. William S. Murphy was born after the end of the Civil War. The pension application card describes the service of William S. Murphy as M 1 U S V Cav (Troop M, 1st U. S. Volunteer Cavalry) The muster out roll of Troop M included Murphy, William S., Caddo, I T Please note, on page 79 of one version of your paperback book, “On the other hand, contemporary newspaper accounts, the Chicago Tribune for one, referred to Murphy as a lawyer in an article “Roosevelt Given a Present” printed on September 14, 1898. It states, “Camp Wikoff Sept. 13. Roosevelt’s Rough Riders presented to Colonel Roosevelt today a bronze replica f Remington’s “Bucking Bronco”. Private William S. Murphy of Troop M, an Indian Territory lawyer, made the speech.” The occupation of William S. Murphy was recorded as a lawyer in the 1920 census of Bryan County, Oklahoma.
William S. Murphy was not Brushy Bill.
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Post by 44colt on Jul 7, 2017 12:18:47 GMT -5
TTT,
Again, the book speculates about what aliases Brushy may have used during his service with the Rough Riders. There are actually multiple William Roberts as well as multiple William S. Murphys in the rolls along with thousands of other names. One such William S. Murphy was reported to have gone insane after the war when Roosevelt did not grant him a position in his administration. There is a record of that William S. Murphy dying in a mental hospital out west, but there is no additional information available. Was that the William S. Murphy in question? I don't think so.
We know that Brushy claimed he enlisted in Muskogee, OK before being transferred to San Antonia and being trained for "about three weeks" before being taken by train through Mobile, AL and eventually on to Cuba.
The first group of Indian Territory volunteers recruited at multiple enlistment points and those enlistees made up the Calvary. It is widely known that many of the men there were derelicts and rejects and obviously lied about their ages. Many were rejected for a number of reasons, including the fact that there was a height requirement for cavalry that the trooper was not to exceed 5'10". In any event, they were enlisted Mid-May. The Muskogee, OK group was transferred to San Antonio, TX for nineteen days, then taken by train through Mobile, AL to Tampa, FL, and then on to Cuba. So, in this regard Brushy Bill was spot on with exactly what the process was for the group he claimed to have joined. This is important because every mustering point had its own path to Cuba. The infantry group, for example, didn't enlist until the beginning of July. Brushy was absolutely correct in regards to the timeline and logistics of the Muskogee volunteers.
Likewise, the William S. Murphy you reference was in the first group and enlisted in Muskogee (as opposed to Guthrie, OK or another enlistment point), exactly as Brushy claimed. I don't think it is inconceivable that Brushy once again stole the identity of someone he knew. However, this would seem to defeat the tie to his San Patricio days unless it was a coincidence. In other words, he had already used "Murphy" as an alias and then, after meeting "William S. Murphy" decided it was a great persona to steal and so he did.
Potentially more problematic is the pension record. I'm not an expert in military pensions and I need to do further study here. I do note that many of the Spanish-American War pensions are from 1926. I'm not certain at this moment when the act was passed that gave them these pensions or how the survivors were notified. If Brushy had stolen Murphy's name, perhaps the real Murphy was notified and he took advantage of it, even if he had never personally served.
All of that said, the point is that Brushy claimed he was in the Rough Riders and he knew intimate details he should not have known. There are also photos of him doing what he claimed he did. These are tough to defeat in my view. The archival record is a mess and so we don't definitively know the names of the bronco busters. In Billy McGinty's book, the editors identify him as one of the riders, although he is not listed in the archival record under that name.
There still remains a whole host of questions such as why would a prominent judge or lawyer serve as a private in a Calvary unit? Why would an academic be a bronco buster? Was Murphy a bronco buster at all, and if not, why would he be chosen by the men to present a bronco buster statue to Roosevelt?
There are still a lot of questions and unfortunately no one in 1950 other than Mr. Morrison had the interest to ask Brushy specific questions other than the ridiculous questions at the Governor's mansion such as "did you have a lot of girl friends?"
Thanks for the dialogue. I do respect your tenacity and work ethic to continue to dig for the truth. Very commendable and appreciated.
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Post by Texas Truth Teller on Jul 7, 2017 17:54:17 GMT -5
Daniel, You are correct. There are many unanswered questions.
Brushy Bill made many claims. He provided very little information with those claims. That makes it very difficult to determine the credibility of his amazing story.
Birthplace – near Buffalo Gap, Taylor County, 1859. Extremely improbable. Taylor County was not settled until the 1870s. First census was in 1880. First settlers arrived in 1858 in Brown County. Buffalo Gap is 75 miles northwest of Brown County in a region that was frequented by the Penetaka band of Comanche Indians. Four members of the Jackson family were massacred in Mills County October 1858, just south of Brown County. Indians raided my great-great grandfather’s homestead in Brown County in 1869. Indians stole horses in Coleman County in 1871. The U S Army drove the Comanches from Taylor County in the 1870s.
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Post by mckinley412 on Jul 7, 2017 18:41:44 GMT -5
I know someone corrected me before. I'm not sure what it was though. Wikipedia says Buffalo Gap was established in 1857. Maybe someone can refresh my memory.
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Post by Texas Truth Teller on Jul 7, 2017 23:41:00 GMT -5
Thain, Wikipedia does indicate that Buffalo Gap was established in 1857. That is wrong. The Buffalo Gap is a geographical feature, a gap in the Callahan Divide that separates watersheds of two rivers. Wikipedia, Taylor County Texas information: Created by the legislature in 1858 Inhabited by the Penetaka Comanche Indians until driven out in the 1870s. First cattlemen ventured into Taylor County in 1872. Buffalo Gap, a community, became the first county seat of Taylor County in 1878.
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Post by mckinley412 on Jul 8, 2017 0:13:42 GMT -5
Buffalo Gap needs to change their history if they know best because people are looking them up. Because Wikidernpedia says established 1857. But let it be recorded here for all to see until the end of time that it used to say Buffalo Gap 1857. Now that I've said my piece let history do as it has always done. 10 years from now the almighty wikipedia will say 1872! And the people there may know when the first walmart was built but I will always know that originally Buffalo Gap was established in 1857. ....And there WAS one final Thought . . . how could a baby know what the name of the middle of nowhere town was until he was older and found out what it was called? ....But there was another final thought... how could a kid that ran away from a home before the area had a name know what to call it? Unless he was calling it by its first name when it finally got a name...? How ironic if a kid living in a place with no name should later call that place by its name...and nobody would believe him.
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